Blog – Page 7 – The Dancing Word

Dancing the Call

Blessings of the New Year!

We’ve made it through the darkest night and now the days are gradually lengthening with the returning light. As much upheaval as we experience in our world, the seasons continue to turn and draw us into their mystery. And as we follow the liturgical cycles, we read the stories of Jesus’ Baptism and God’s call for him to embrace his purpose on earth, and we reflect on how God calls each of us to our purpose in life. I love dancing the story of the Call of the Disciples with the youth at my home parish! “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of people!”

I wanted to share with you how God has been calling me … Fr. Centurio from Uganda has invited me to come to the archdiocese of Tororo to teach the youth the art and prayer of liturgical movement. Wow! What an amazing call … to share faith with children from a dancing culture, and to build bridges through the art and prayer of movement! I have invited my dear friend ValLimar Jansen and we are making plans for a trip there in May. Please pray for us! We are called!

And back in the Northern hemisphere, as we move to February, it’s almost St. Brigid’s Day! In Ireland, St. Brigid is the most well-known of the saints (after St. Patrick), and her feast on February 1st is the harbinger of spring, the beginning of the stirrings of new life that begin to poke their noses up from the ground. As Brigid is the patron saint of midwives and the tender of thresholds, she supports us all in the new births that we are called to embrace.

St. Brigid is also one of the Celtic Saints featured in our recent DVD publication with Abbey of the Arts. I’m taking this opportunity once again to share our teaser video … still makes me smile!

As we close this time, I’d like to share a video of a playful performance piece that I got to offer in the Holy Land at the famous site of Qumran, near the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered! This story depicts Jesus’ journey to discover his life call … and to be Baptized by John as he embarked on his ministry.

May you, too, hear the Spirit’s voice nudging you beyond your comfort zone, to dance into your own holy call.

Blessings!

Betsey

Betsey Beckman, MM

Posted: January 12, 2020 by Betsey Beckman

Reflections on the Dancing Journey

As I sit down to reflect with you now, we are six Sundays through the season of Easter. What a season of fullness I have been immersed in these past few months! I’ve been hoping for a window of contemplative time to open – in order to officially inaugurate my new blog, and share with you some of the dance of life! If you are willing, I invite you to take a deep breath with me … and let it out with a long sigh. This is one of my favorite InterPlay ways of letting go of all that is bouncing around inside … and becoming present to the gift of this moment. I share this practice now with you!

So, the story goes like this … in Lent, as is my custom, I traveled to the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress where I danced at six liturgies and offered two workshops throughout the course of three days. A whirlwind! In my workshop entitled: Mourning into Dancing we honored the ancient Biblical tradition of grieving through embodied prayer. I invited all 65 participants to dance through the story of Lazarus with me. We divided the group and – Martha, Mary, Jesus, the disciples, Lazarus – all came to life in a kind of movement choir embodying each character in voice and movement. We dipped into the depths of grief – improvising a melody of mourning. We danced Martha’s anger, Mary’s heart-break and Jesus’ tears. And finally, we danced the surprise of new life as Lazarus came forth from his tomb and untwirled from his linen wrappings. I was very touched by the willingness of all the participants to enter into such a depth of expression and prayer in the midst of our hour and a half workshop! Such is the gift of embodied prayer.

One of the most exquisite experiences of LA Congress is gathering in the Arena along with 8,000 other people! To have the honor of dancing on behalf of all those assembled is an exquisite joy. And to be able to pray through the Eucharist together – with processions and incense, music and movement, deep quiet and full-bodied celebration is a true gift of experiencing the Body of Christ gathered in faith. To share with you a glimpse of this journey – take a look at the footage from our Closing Eucharist. About four minutes in to the following video, you will see the dance piece – So Beautiful – which we shared as a Song/Dance of Thanksgiving after Communion. May you be blessed by a bit of this beauty!

And because it is late now … I will leave the rest of the story for the next installment. Blessings and talk to you again soon! -Betsey

Posted: May 9, 2010 by Betsey Beckman

Welcome to my new blog!

Thanks for visiting my blog at The Dancing Word. We’re just finishing up the final touches on this brand new site, and more blogs will be found here soon. Thanks for coming and please come back again soon. Until then, you can learn more about who I am here.

Posted: December 7, 2009 by Betsey Beckman

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